A Spark to a Lost Flame
by kittygirl2010
Summary: Hope is a word to reassure those who have none. In a place where its name doesn't even come close, can the the actions of a simple courier change that? Boone finally realizes that hope can spark a flame in everyone...even in the most terrible situations.


_**(Here is a little story about Camp Forlorn Hope in the New Vegas region. Don't expect any romance, Boone and the Courier are just the two main people in this story. With my Fallout: New Vegas stories, if I choose to write more after this, will be different. I made it take place to where the Courier is actually the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3. Just so no one gets confused as they read this. The mission where you have to help the wounded soldiers intrigued me the most. Well anyway I'm going to shut up now and let you read this. Enjoy! ^.^)**_

**A Spark to a Lost Flame**

Entering the narrow pathway towards Camp Forlorn Hope, all Boone could think about was how more time would be wasted by helping more NCR troopers. He had heard stories of the place back when he was in 1st Recon but to actually see it made his heart sink. He followed the courier close behind, just staring as her expression didn't change when they entered the camp. She stopped for a moment and fixed a loose boot lace on one of her mercenary troublemaker boots. She then stopped a nearby trooper and asked for directions to the leader's tent. He pointed to the north and they immediately made their way over to it. Once inside, the room was filled with panic-struck NCR troopers as they made their rounds around the tent. A man in the center was barking out orders while the rest were frantically trying to obey them. Boone just stood by the entrance as the courier made her way to the leader. They inroduced one another and shook hands. Boone listened intently to their conversation.

"I'm Major Polatli and this is Camp Forlorn Hope. "

"It's nice to meet you. How are things around the camp?"

"Not good. We still haven't gotten any support from the rest of the NCR and the Legion is kicking our ass right now"

"What's your take on the NCR's positon here?"

"It's no picnic, I'll tell you that much. My troops are out here every day dying for the NCR, but they've left us out to dry. We have no men or supplies and we're stretched too thin trying to guard the entire river. If the brass back home could get their heads out of their asses long enough to send support, we could turn this all around."

"Damn...sounds like you could use some help. Anything me and my friend can help you with?"

"I've got the Legion at Nelson breathing down my neck and not enought men or supplies to get this camp into fighting shape so we can strike back. I need someone to talk to a few of the officers and help them resolve some of the problems around here. If I can get this place in order, then I can focus our efforts on taking back Nelson from the Legion. The more that gets done around here, the more resources I'll be able to put into assaulting Nelson. If you want to help, go talk to Quartermaster Mayes. He needs some help getting some of our supplies."

The courier nodded and left the tent with Boone following close behind. Not saying a word as he left. After getting directions from some of the troops to find Quartermaster Mayes' location, they immediately went to his tent. Mayes and the courier introduced one another and immediately got to business.

"So the Major has you running errands for him. Well, we're short on personnel as well as supplies so we'll take all the help we can get."

"How can I help with your supply problem?"

"The Major let me send out some troops to gather supplies, but unfortunately they never returned. I'm guessing they ran into some trouble on the way. You can help by finding the troops and assisting them in bringing back any supplies they found."

The courier agreed and signaled for Boone to come with her.

Leaving the camp behind them, Boone could just watch as the courier sprinted ahead of him towards Helios One. He didn't understand why she was always jumping in to help people. It had been this way since he left with her from Novac. Everywhere they went, somone needed help and she was always the one to jump in and accept. He quickly followed behind her while scoping the area in the process.

"Why are we in such a hurry? It's not like they could have gotten too far."

"I just want to make sure they're-" standing on a ridge, she stopped talking and just stood there. He caught up to her and looked down to see what she was looking at. Down below lay three dead NCR troopers around a supply cache. Boone looked at the courier expecting her to freak out, but she just sighed in frustration and walked down to one of the bodies. She moved back the collar on the trooper and took off his dogtag. She went to the other two and did the same thing before finally taking the supplies out of the large cache. A silver glint from the sun bouncing off of something caught Boone's eye and he immediately took out his rifle. Two Legion troops were making their way towards the courier. Boone aimed his gun and shot at one of the troopers coming toward her. A loud crack echoed through the area and the bullet hit the man square in the head. The other trooper, realizing that his partner was now dead, concluded that dying was better than returning to Caesar empty handed. He charged forward and began his attack with his machete. The courier quickly turned around and shot him with a few rounds of her light machine gun.

"So it was the legion that attacked them...typical." Boone made his way to the courier when she shot a bullet so close to his ear that he could hear the wind from it. He turned around and saw another legion soilder behind him. She saved his life without him realizing it. They returned to the camp and delivered the supplies. Quartermaster Mayes thanked the courier and sent them back to Polatli. Boone, deciding that he would rather be attacked by more legion soilders than listen to Polatli bark out orders again, waited outside for the courier. She came back out a few minutes later and told him to follow. They walked a little towards the entrance where they came in and went inside the medicine tent. It was like any other clinic or hospital except alot worse. There was blood all over the place, an old dumpster filled with limbs and an overly stressed and exhausted doctor smoking a cigarette in anxiety.

"Are you Dr. Richards?" the courier asked curiously even though the answer was pretty obvious.

"Yes. How can I help you? I'm very busy so make it quick."

"Major Polatli said you might need some help."

"With business booming like it is and considering I'm the only person with medical experience in the camp, I could perhaps use a hand. Do you have any medical experience?"

_Doubt it_. Boone thought as he rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. How could she? She was courier not a doctor.

"Yes. I have some medical experience.

_Well that's new. Guess I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Never seen her tend to anyone before. This should be interesting._

"Excellent. As you can see, we have a lot of injured troopers here and I haven't had time to look at all of them yet. Since you have medical experience I'd like you to examine them and see what you can do to treat them."

"Okay. Let me take a look at him first, he looks like he's wounded the least of the three."

Boone watched as the courier looked over the injured trooper. She took some purified water and cleaned the wounds before applying some antibiotics as she stitched them up. By the looks of it he was going to completely recover over time. She walked over to the next one, looking him over as she did with the one prior. She looked to Boone and pointed to the duffle bag they found to carry scavenged items.

"Hand me a medical brace, some Med-X, and a bonesaw from there please. I have to amputate."

"Are you sure?"

"This man's leg is seriously injured. Now hurry."

Boone took out what she wanted and gave it to her. She placed the medcal brace over his leg and gave him some Med-X to dull the pain. She then took the bonesaw and cut the area marked by the medical brace. She took a look at his hand and shook her head in disgust. Boone gave her a curious look wondering what was wrong.

"His hand is gangrenous. I have to cut it off too. If I don't, his life will be in danger." she cut the gangrenous hand off, saving his life.

Boone couldn't believe what he was seeing. Whom he thought was just a simple courier was operating and treating injuries like a real doctor. _Where did she learn all of this stuff_?he thought as he watched her wash her hands with some purified water. He looked to Dr. Richards who was just as shocked and surprised as he was. The courier walked over to the last patient, did her normal routine as she did with the previous two and began working on him.

"Okay...this time I need some tweezers, another Med-X, and a super stimpak. Could you hand them to me Boone?" she held out her hand and Boone placed the items she needed inside her delicate hands.

She gave the patient some Med-X to dull the pain then used the tweezers to pick out the pieces of shrapnel. Unfortunately, due to the extreme loss of blood, the patient went into circulatory shock. She quickly grabbed the super stimpak and stabilized him. Once she was all finished, she quickly wiped the sweat from her brow and went to wash her hands again.

"He should make a complete recovery. The danger has now passed."

No one said a word but Dr. Richards broke the silence as he thanked the courier for all her hard work.

"Excellent job. Where did you learn how to do all that? I don't think that I could have done much better myself. Very impressive. As for the men, they'll recover soon and be back on the front lines in no time. Ahh...the circle of life. I'll send word to Major Polatli about your work here. Once again, you have my sincerest thanks."

As Dr. Richards went back to his patients, Boone and the courier left him to his duties. They reported back to Major Polatli who said that apparently a 'good job' from Dr. Richards was a "mighty high praise" coming from him.

"With the help you've given us, we're doing a little bit better, but we still have the Legion forces at Nelson to deal with. If we can retake Nelson, that will be a huge help to our efforts in this area and give us an advantage at Hoover Dam."

Fortunately for Major Polatli, the courier had already taken care of the forces of Nelson on the way here and intel from the rescued rangers was already sent.

"Excellent work. This will buy us a lot of breathing room to get back on our feet here. Now we can actually try to strengthen our forces along the river and perpare for the upcoming battle at Hoover Dam. You have my thanks, we owe you a lot."

Boone and the courier said their goodbyes and headed out the exit towards Helios One. Boone could do nothing but just be quiet. He witnessed something that he thought had been lost a long time ago. Ironic that it had to come from a place named after it, but all the same it was definitely hope. The camp in the begining was like a dying fire that was about to be extinguished, but when the courier came, a small spark had formed under the coals of despair and abandonment. When she brought the supplies back to Quartermaster Mayes, his exterior completely changed as he realized that they were going to be okay. When she helped soldiers who were beyond saving get a second chance at life brought everyone in the camp closer and ready to fight once more. Finally, after news of the Legion's defeat and the rangers rescue at Nelson, it boosted the troops morale so much to where they WANTED to fight and survive the Legions future attacks. The courier glanced behind her at Boone, who was still staring at her. She gave him a curious look.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"N-no not at all...I just...where did you learn to do all that stuff? If it were any other courier, they wouldn't know their own head from their ass. So?"

"I never told you this but...two years ago, I lived in a vault. My father was a doctor and a respected scientist. My vault was in the DC area so it was alot harder there then it is here. I learned by watching and by learning. Plus...I lost my father to the enclave. I'm sure you've heard stories about them. I'm also sure you've heard about Project Purity. It's what my parents started...and what I finished. I helped lots of people in the DC area but found myself getting bored of the quiet wasteland life. Even though there were plenty of enemies around. So, I made my way here and got myself a job as a courier. Unfortunately for me, my job has gone from a simple delivery job to a very complicated and exhausting game of cat and mouse. I shouldn't complain though. There is plenty to do here that is keeping me occupied. It makes me wonder if I'll ever stop saying yes."

"Do you...want to talk about it?"

"Maybe...when you're ready to tell me about yours."

Boone just rolled his eyes. He knew there had to be a catch but he didn't care. At first he thought this was just a waste of time, but after what he just witnessed in the past twenty four hours...a little piece of him was willing to open up.

_Maybe if I told her what was on my mind...maybe...just maybe...she would light a spark to a long extinguished flame._

_**(Well there it is. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Again the whole, courier is the lone wanderer thing is completely my idea and hopefully everyone will respect that. I had originally just wanted it to be in order but thought that there were a lot of stories that were like that. So, I went completely off my rocker and changed things around in the end. If you think I should write more, let me know and I'll see what my creative juices bring out. Rate, Review and tell me what you guys think. ^.^)**_


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